Posts Tagged ‘raizy haas’

Extell Development is following through with its plans to begin vertical construction at the site of its future International Gem Tower with or without a construction loan. The Wall Street Journal spotted workers erecting the 34-story tower’s steel base yesterday, and noted that despite its lack of construction financing, it is now one of just two New York City sites where large-scale office buildings are going up. (The other being, of course, the World Trade Center). According to Raizy Haas, Extell’s senior vice president, the Diamond District project, on 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, will be complete by the end of next year. … [more]

The steel for Extell Development’s International Gem Tower at 44 West 47th Street is set to rise the last week of March or the first week of April, Extell’s Raizy Haas told the Post. The $750 million, 34-story condominium tower, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, had its design by Skidmore Owings & Merrill unveiled nearly four years ago. But since the October 2008 market crash badly hurt the diamond industry, progress on the tower has been delayed. Now, Extell and Tishman Construction have just turned on their public information hotline as work begins, giving details on trenching, sandblasting and related activities for this month and next. … [more]

Extell Development plans to start going vertical with its 34-story International Gem Tower building in March with or without a construction loan, vice president Raizy Haas told the Wall Street Journal. According to Haas, the developer’s equity partners in the project have agreed to pony up the funds for what she called a “calculated risk” — a risk that many lenders have shied away from in recent years. The Diamond District commercial condominium currently has 150,000 square feet worth of commitments from buyers, which works out to around 20 percent of the building. … [more]

Extell is already receiving $49.6 million in tax breaks from the city for its 34-story International Gem Tower at 44 West 47th Street, and today, the building’s future tenants are also expected to get in on the action with up to $100 million in state aid, the New York Times reported. The funding, which would amount to the state jobs program’s largest-ever loan, and would go toward granting jewelry and diamond merchants low-interest loans of up to $5 million for the purchase of condominiums in the 748,000-square-foot tower. The financing is intended to help stimulate the U.S. diamond industry as it competes with diamond centers in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Dubai and Antwerp, though some say the diamond industry is doing just fine without the government’s help — accounting for 40 percent of diamond sales across the globe. State economic development officials are expected to approve the plan today. Meanwhile, Extell’s Raizy Haas said the company is hoping for a construction loan in the next few weeks and has contracts signed on 140,000 square feet worth of space in the once-stalled project. The Gemological Institute of America recently inked a deal to take the fifth floor. [NYT]

Extell is already receiving $49.6 million in tax breaks from the city for its 34-story International Gem Tower at 44 West 47th Street, and today, the building’s future tenants are also expected to get in on the action with up to $100 million in state aid, the New York Times reported. The funding, which would amount to the state jobs program’s largest-ever loan, and would go toward granting jewelry and diamond merchants low-interest loans of up to $5 million for the purchase of condominiums in the 748,000-square-foot tower. The financing is intended to help stimulate the U.S. diamond industry as it competes with diamond centers in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Dubai and Antwerp, though some say the diamond industry is doing just fine without the government’s help — accounting for 40 percent of diamond sales across the globe. State economic development officials are expected to approve the plan today. Meanwhile, Extell’s Raizy Haas said the company is hoping for a construction loan in the next few weeks and has contracts signed on 140,000 square feet worth of space in the once-stalled project. The Gemological Institute of America recently inked a deal to take the fifth floor. [NYT]

In response to dropping labor costs, Extell Development, which is building a new 35-story office tower in the Diamond District, is halting some of its work to renegotiate construction contracts. “We are out on the street trying to rebid all of the major trades,” Raizy Haas, head of the International Gem Tower project for Extell, told the Wall Street Journal. Haas said she believes that the savings on construction will outweigh the delays. The tower, at 50 West 47th Street, is being marketed as an office condominium project and is slated for completion by the end of 2012. Last month, the project was approved as a U.S. Foreign Trade Zone, a designation which eliminates customs duties for items imported into and then exported out of the zone — an attractive proposition for the jewelry companies to which Extell is catering — making it the only active foreign trade zone in Manhattan, a spokesperson for the New York City Economic Development Corp., said. [WSJ]

In response to dropping labor costs, Extell Development, which is building a new 35-story office tower in the Diamond District, is halting some of its work to renegotiate construction contracts. “We are out on the street trying to rebid all of the major trades,” Raizy Haas, head of the International Gem Tower project for Extell, told the Wall Street Journal. Haas said she believes that the savings on construction will outweigh the delays. The tower, at 50 West 47th Street, is being marketed as an office condominium project and is slated for completion by the end of 2012. Last month, the project was approved as a U.S. Foreign Trade Zone, a designation which eliminates customs duties for items imported into and then exported out of the zone — an attractive proposition for the jewelry companies to which Extell is catering — making it the only active foreign trade zone in Manhattan, a spokesperson for the New York City Economic Development Corp., said. [WSJ]

Extell Development President Gary Barnett conceded defeat after the state attorney general ordered him to release 41 buyers from disputed contracts at the 289-unit Rushmore condominium (click here to see the attorney general’s decision). “We’re not happy about this but we never expected many of these people to close at this point,” Barnett told The Real Deal in a telephone interview. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo ended a 14-month dispute at the Rushmore, located at 80 Riverside Boulevard, after buyers alleged the developer failed to begin closing apartments by a Sept. 1, 2008 deadline. Extell has argued that the missed deadline was due to a “typo” and that closings at the Rushmore were supposed to commence closing a year later, but the AG states not only that Extell failed to back up the claim, but that the alleged error should not negate the buyer’s claims. … [more]

The Gem Tower and Raizy Haas, senior development vice president with Extell

Extell’s upcoming International Gem Tower has 100,000 square feet worth of contracts, plus another 50,000 to 75,000 square feet of space that’s in negotiation, Raizy Haas, the company’s senior development vice president, told the Post. The 34-story project at 44 West 47th Street was designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill as a new home for the gem business and is being sold as commercial condos. The Gemological Institute of America took on one floor, or 30,000 square feet, in January, and several Israeli companies have reportedly signed contracts since then. The foundation is complete and construction is slated to finish in 2012. “We’ll be out on the street in the next few months bidding out work to the major trades — steel, concrete and elevators,” Haas said. [Post, 4th item] … [more]

Construction has started at the Balton and Douglass Park, two new affordable housing developments in Harlem. The two new apartment buildings will consume almost an entire city block between 127th and 128th streets and St. Nicholas Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Meanwhile, Kaufman Astoria Studios, the 17-year home of Sesame Street, has become the largest commercial user of a bio-diesel-blended heating oil known as METRO’s Greenheat, according to a press release from the two entities sent today, and Los Angeles-based Mesa West Capital has opened a New York City office. Also, The last two remaining residences at 995 Fifth Avenue will be marketed jointly by Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group and Gumley Haft Kleier, according to an announcement made by the Extell Development, who is behind the project. Raizy Haas, senior vice president at Extell, said that her company brought Gumley on board because of its industry connections and successful track record at other Extell properties. Click here for more. TRD … [more]